Cary Wolfe
Bio Cary Wolfe (born 1959) is an English professor at Rice University (2003-present) and has served as the department chair (2010-12). He has written on a range of topics, from American poetry to bioethics. He has been a significant voice in recent debates in Animal Studies and advocates a version of the posthumanist position. He was born and grew up in North Carolina. In 1984 Wolfe read Interdisciplinary Studies in English, Philosophy, and Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill, where he received a B.A. with Highest Honors. He later received an M.A. from the Department of English at Chapel Hill in 1986. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of English, at Duke University in 1990. Wolfe's first teaching position was as an Assistant Professor at the Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1990. He remained at Indiana until 1998, at which time he was Associate Professor of American Studies. Wolfe moved to the University at Albany, part of the State University of New York system as a Visiting Professor. At Albany, he later served as Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Chair, Department of English, 1998–99, and was made a full Professor in 1999. In 2003, he was offered an endowed professorship at Rice University in Houston TX. He continues to teach at Rice and holds the Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Professor, Department of English. Wolfe also directs a Center of Critical and Cultural Theory at Rice, 3CT. Work Under Consideration Background Quotations Key Words - Humanism: an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems. - Pluralism: a condition or system in which two or more states, groups, principles, sources of authority, etc., coexist. Analysis/Interpretation The connecting point Wolfe makes, starting on the last three lines of the last paragraph on page 566 and continued on 567, "is how internal disciplinarity of history or literary studies or philosophy is unsettled when the animal is taken seriously," and then makes this point that connects to Marx, Woolf, and Said's readings "...not just another topic or object of study among many, but as one with unique demands"(Wolfe 566-67). Wolfe argues that the idea of the animals perceived as separate entities from humans “is better seen as marking a brief period ... bookended by a pre- and posthumanism that think the human/animal distinction quite otherwise” (564). He doesn't want animal studies to turn into cultural studies as connections to humanism by “the sort of ‘pluralism’ that extends the sphere of consideration (intellectual or ethical) to previously marginalized groups without in the least destabilizing or throwing into question the schema of the human who undertakes such pluralization” (568). Related Class Texts * Karl Marx: Capital Volume 1 * Virginia Woolf: A Room of One's Own * Edward Said: Orientalism Major Criticism References Wolfe, Cary. "Human, All Too Human: “Animal Studies” and the Humanities." PMLA (2009): 564-75. JSTOR. Web. 1 Oct. 2016. "Cary Wolfe." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2016. "Cary Wolfe." Rice University Department of English. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.